By Steve Stockmar
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Twitter: @stevestockmar

Two people walking through a grassy public park on a sunny day are not just two people walking through a grassy public park on a sunny day. Not in this part of town.

On a recent Thursday, Glendale Police Officer Greg Mills, a 15-year veteran with GPD, was on his routine patrol in and around the area known as Project 32, a three-by-three square mile section of the city that extends from 67th to 59th avenues north and south and from Bethany Home to Camelback roads east and west.

A call came from dispatch that two individuals were seen relieving themselves outside in public in a park. By the time Mills rolled up, there were two individuals casually strolling across the grass. There were homes literally across the street, and two elementary schools nearby. It wasn’t exactly within Project 32, but close enough for all the wrong reasons.

Within minutes of stopping the pair who matched the original suspect descriptions, there was more than indecent exposure going on. Officers found the woman to be holding what appeared to be both meth and fentanyl, both of which on this day would lead to felony charges. And she had a pair of outstanding warrants to boot.

Too much of the bad stuff in Project 32 is like that – right out in the open, in broad daylight.

“59th and Bethany is my passion project when it comes to drug activity, homeless activity, vagrant activity,” Mills said, while cruising around the same streets on his beat over and over and peering from his police truck into the same popular nooks for criminal activity. “The Bonsall Park area is kind of like the Grand Central Station for all that.”

Not for long.

HOT SPOT

As far back as September of last year, GPD was developing a crime reduction project in the Bonsall Park area in an effort to not only mitigate criminal activity there but to take permanent steps for the betterment of the troubled area.

Two giant parks, Bonsall North and Bonsall South, are separated by the busy Bethany Home Road, in a mostly commercial area with some nearby apartment complexes.

On the surface, two big community parks side by side sounds idyllic. But these are definitely not traditional parks.

The road separating the two features dense traffic along Bethany Home, which on this stretch is home to almost 22,000 daily vehicles on average at the 59th Avenue intersection, according to the city’s traffic count program. It’s also, statistically, one of the more dangerous intersections for accidents in the entire Valley.

Occasionally Mills will see folks fishing in the Bonsall South Park’s pond, and it’s rare – though not impossible – to catch a glimpse of kids on the playground. Just about anywhere else that’s a welcome sight for a public park, but Mills thinks twice when he sees kids playing because of “stuff going on there.”

“You don’t get that neighborhood activity there,” he said. “There’s no stream of positive flow there. If you’re there you’re kind of there for no good, with the exception of a few people.”

IN PLAIN SIGHT

Folks here can be pretty brazen when it comes to criminal or even potential illegal activity. As soon as Mills circles on patrol through a plaza and its liquor store along Bethany, loiterers make no haste walking away.

Only minutes earlier, a call came from dispatch about a woman who up and ran off at the mere sight of other officers approaching. She ran so fast she abandoned what looked to be all of her mobile street-life possessions, which in this case included a meth pipe. Just minutes after that, the call came in about the couple in the park.

Mills tells the story of the time that a gentleman fell into the pond at Bonsall South. Multiple agencies responded to the call, from police to firefighters to EMTs. Even with a ton of first responders literally covering the park ground during the incident, Mills looks over and sees one guy on a bench go ahead and light up a meth pipe right on the spot. Mills shook his head, then placed the guy under arrest.

Nearby businesses fall victim to property crime and burglaries. There are drug crimes, even shootings. Not to mention a lot of car-vs-pedestrian incidents near that congested intersection at 59th and Bethany. And don’t even get officers started on the notorious Glendale Manor apartment complex less than two miles away.

Also on this routine Thursday afternoon patrol, a call comes in about a man clearly under the influence of something who had fallen and hit his head near the busy Glendale Avenue street curb. While being treated by EMTs, with police and fire crews also responding, the man was wildly gyrating on the public sidewalk near businesses. He said he had just come out of Glendale Manor.

“There are two epicenters of crime in the city: Bonsall Park and Glendale Manor,” Mills said. “When our staff ran the numbers we found that there were more violent crimes – more everything – than any other beat in the city. There’s a lot of vagrant activity, a lot of blight… There’s certain areas around here that just attract the wrong people.”

THE PLAN

Officers have seen enough.

The Glendale Police Department’s months-long crime reduction effort for the area took on the moniker Project 32, to which every division head had contributed ideas and strategies to start to turn the tide.

Visibility was among the primary objectives. Officers went out of their way to be seen. Those on patrol, like Mills, went door to door to every single residence in Project 32 with a simple message: zero tolerance for any kind of crime. There was also education about the citywide GlendaleOne app accessibility, which allows all residents to access nonemergency services and to submit requests.

Increased police presence was quickly established.

Civilian employees were called on to help, with everything from tagging vehicles for towing that didn’t belong where they were parked. Undercover officers were out and about. And the “eye in the sky,” those officers back at the station monitoring a network of cameras in the area, was just a phone call away for instant looks at video surveillance when needed.

Mills himself makes contact with as many of those living on the street as he can, and he has amassed a large database of names and photos available with the push of a button inside his cruiser. One big reason for the database is to stay ahead of outstanding warrants on suspects. The other reason usually comes with a smile.

During his patrol Mills approaches the “regular” homeless community members, not all of whom are into criminal activity. One gentleman he speaks to on his daily rounds, a Marine veteran, lives in his car near Bonsall Park, along with his cared-for dogs. Mills checks on him with everything from a friendly conversation to asking if he needs anything, which on this day the man politely declined.

“Our focus is not to drive out the homeless. It’s to get rid of the criminal activity,” Mills said. “Even though there’s a bad area, there’s more good than bad there. The people who are there legitimately want to have a good life.”

THE RESULTS

Project 32? Yeah, it’s working.

The combined proactive efforts of the Gateway and Foothills police divisions, traffic enforcement, special operations, and investigations have led to some dramatic numbers.

Since Project 32 started, there has been an 11% decrease in arrests, an 87% decrease in burglaries and breaking and entering, a 72% decrease in theft of motor vehicles, and vehicle thefts and homicide rates have not increased even 1%. Although there has been a 12% increase in aggravated assaults, the overall data is clear.

“That’s in five months,” Police Chief Chris Briggs told the Glendale City Council earlier this spring. “That’s because we have some of the bodies to be able to do this.”

The approach will likely catch on.

“I would imagine that the 67th and Glendale area will be next,” Mills said.

And he sees even more potential in his “passion project” area of 59th and Bethany.

A large plan he hopes is on the table is to use the available park area to convert Bonsall North into football and soccer fields. It’s a strategy with many layers, besides just supporting kids and families who live within walking distance of the park.

Necessary fences around the field perimeters would discourage vagrants from walking their usual routes through the park. And installing artificial turf fields would also conserve water rather than using the grass surface that currently exists.

Above all else, after police have now established their presence, it’s time, he says, to establish a community presence.

“Suddenly you have practices every evening, you have games all weekend long, you have people coming and going. There’s that constant flow of (foot) traffic back and forth,” Mills explained. “You’re gonna have new people coming every hour in the evening. And you better believe that if there’s somebody over there smoking meth, they’re gonna call the cops. They’re just not gonna be here smoking meth anymore. Will it cost money? Yes. But will it fix everything immediately? 100%.”

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We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on Project 32 and the area on which the effort focuses. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net
@stevestockmar

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.